


Five Times Tony Saved Peter, and One Time He Didn’t Need To

by TooTiredToTry



Series: The Irondad-Spiderson Content We Demand [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: 5+1 Things, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, Marvel - Freeform, Spiderson & irondad, Tags Are Hard, because im relevant, i hate this more than you do, ruined me, these two give me life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-06-15
Packaged: 2020-05-12 14:16:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19230796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TooTiredToTry/pseuds/TooTiredToTry
Summary: “You help me like, literally every second of everyday. I think it’s about time you start taking care of yourself.”





	Five Times Tony Saved Peter, and One Time He Didn’t Need To

Tony had baby hands. Plain and simple. Small little stubs that were pudgy and frankly, statistically, and overall unattractive. When he was in Afghanistan, he thought when he starved they would also shrink. He would of found that his hands looking like Mickey Mouse gloves in comparison to his body as comical, had he not been… starving. The point was - no matter how long it took to get there - Tony Stark: genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, had embarrassingly tiny hands. He was a grown fucking man, okay? He didn’t need those little shits making him self conscious. 

Tony had asked Bruce to help ( _ heyo Brucie Bear!  _ **_Get out, Tony._ ** ) but he was… busy. So Tony was left to fend for himself. It was only fitting when he nearly blew up his workshop trying to find a way to grow them. In theory, Tony was going for some kind of concoction that he could drink to make them bigger, like a thing from Harry Potter… it was his second day in a row being awake, okay? Cut him some slack, you prick.

“Uh… Mr Stark?”

Tony blinked at his charred hands.

_ How’d that even explode? _

“Mr Stark?”

A feather light finger tapped his shoulder and he turned to see a frightened Peter Parker. Had Tony not been so sleep deprived, he would’ve noticed the disheveled hair and purple bags underneath the kid’s brown eyes. 

“Yeah, Kid?”

Peter blinked and gestured incredulously at the sight before him.

“Oh yeah… uh, experiment gone wrong.”

“Mr Stark, you’re a mechanic.”

“Labels are a social construct, Kid.”

Peter opened and closed his mouth for a few seconds, not entirely following that logic. He gave up trying and weakly smiled, shrugging.

“Not important. What’s up?”

“I, uh, was startled by the um… exploding workshop… situation.”

Tony squinted at the teenager, and it finally clicked in his mind.

“You look like shit.”

Peter deflated and rolled his eyes, then ran a shaky hand through his messy hair.

“Thanks.”

The kid looked so damn tired. Stark could relate; he still remembered him dusting. He could see the same emptiness behind the adolescent’s eyes now from when he died. Tony recalled the lump the size of the fucking moon that was caught in his throat while Nebula had urged him onto the space ship. As they rushed home ( _ home? What a joke. Nothing was home anymore _ ) Tony was thinking of all the different ways he could’ve saved the fucking asshole. Peter’s only been home about seven months and then some; they’re all coping.

“Mr stark, you ever have a panic attack,” A single tear rolled down the child’s cheek, breaking Tony a little. 

The mechanic immediately wrapped his arms around the kid, and Peter slowly lifted his to reciprocate.

One of the many things the two had in common was that they were both silent criers, therefore Tony knew all too familiarly what the shaking and choked off sounds meant. He rubbed gentle circles onto Peter’s back until he stopped trembling. After several quiet moments, Peter was the first to back away, as he wiped at his eye.

“I-I’m sorry… I’ll-I’ll go-“

“I didn’t sleep for… about a week until I physically passed out face first when you, um,”

_ Died. _

Tony rotated his hand flippantly to pass on the message.

“it was, uh, a lot. I couldn’t go get help at the time because uh, hi, my name’s Tony Stark, Iron Man, Person Who’s Supposed To Have His Shit Together, and we had to um… fight still,”

Peter looked away, but Tony was on a roll.

“I’m only about half human right now, but just know that your struggles and pain make you stronger. Kinda like those dribble castles normal people do at the beach. You know, where they dig a hole in the sand until it’s all watery, then they take the water-y sand shit and drip it across the edge of the pit?”

Peter laughed a little and shook his head.

“I, surprisingly, have no idea what-what you’re talking about.”

Tony scoffed.

“Okay, you little shit, you know where the door is.”

He turned back to his table as he heard Peter give a real laugh.

“No, no, no. Mr Stark-”

Fucking ass was giggling.

“-no, I appreciate the um, the metaphor, I think that’s what it was?”

Tony flipped him off behind his head, but he then felt small arms snake around his waist and they squeezed tight around him.

“Thank you, Mr Stark.”

Tony huffed and shooed him away.

“Tea works. I’m also sure that Natasha had some way of knocking you out.”

Peter hummed and scuffed his feet against the floor as he walked out the door.

“Goodnight, Mr Stark.”

But by then, Tony Stark, a complete idiot, forgot about his baby hands and started looking up how PTSD works in teenagers.

 

\-------------------------------------

 

“Natasha, do I have baby hands?”

“Ask that one more time and you won’t have  _ any _ hands,”

Nat said blankly as she popped candy into her mouth on the couch. 

“I’m pretty sure cutting my hands off is a great cause for eviction.”

“Yeah Tasha, get too mean and he’ll throw a tantrum,”

Clint added from atop the fridge.

“Hey Barton?”

“Yes, Tony Dearest?”

“I’m throwing all your nasty coffee creamer away.”

“That’s cruel and unusual punishment, Stark. I’ll sue you.”

“Get out of my tower without all your fancy ass shit I bought you, then you can sue me.”

Clint shrugged and burrowed into a blanket he brought to his perch.

“That’s what I thought,” Tony muttered.

“Speak up, we can’t hear you,”

Natasha stared him down with sharp eyes and he shrank into the loveseat he was sitting in.

“I said, ‘wow are you two hot’.”

Natasha nodded and Clint snorted.

“Boss, Mr Parker requires you in the downstairs laboratory.”

FRIDAY calls and Tony perks up.

“On my way.”

And he laid his StarkPad on the futon, ignoring Clint’s look of confusion as he made his way to the elevator. On his way down, Tony checked his Twitter feed and saw Clint went Twitter viral with his tweet about Tony’s baby hand escapade, then Pepper text-threatened him because now his PR is going to be a mess for a minute. Oh well.

The doors slid open and Tony walked into the lab to see papers hung on the ceiling and walls with webbing. Drawers were left open and hanging out of desks, and all the chairs but one were stacked messily in a corner. In the middle of all this chaos was the one and only Peter Parker, with a loose grey sweatshirt hanging off his shoulder and red plaid pajama pants that were much too short hanging off his legs. 

“Mr Stark, there’s this biochem project about hormones the teacher assigned us, and I can’t find the grading rubric. I know that you don’t really do biochem, but I have no idea what the connection between the adrenal medulla and SNS even is! That’s the first question!”

Peter spewed out without even greeting Tony -  _ teenagers. _

“‘K well, I do have FRIDAY for a reason.”

Tony waved his index finger in circles at the AI.

“Paper is in the freezer,”

FRIDAY said, amused with the juvenile. Peter swore under his breath then rushed to the connected room. He came back with a stiff piece of paper with a scowl.

“How’d that get there?”

“You were eating ice cream out of the bucket,”

FRIDAY offered and Peter blushed like a firetruck.

“No I wasn’t.”

“Boss, would you like the footage?”

“He would not.”

“Sure, Fri.”

A holoscreen appeared in front of Tony and he watched a previous Peter curled into a ball with the ice cream tub in between his legs. All the lights were off and the lab was all quiet, apart from Peter inhaling the entire bucket. Present Peter waved his hands in the holoscreen and it blinked out of existence as Tony doubled over with laughter. After a minute, Peter grumbled and signalled to Tony that it was no longer funny. Tony bit back his smile and raised his eyebrows in mock concern.

“You goin’ through a breakup, Pete?”

Peter’s face dropped comically as he flipped the other man off.

“Are you going to help me, or are you gonna laugh at me all day?”

“That’s an option?”

“Get out.”

Tony snickered and Peter turned back to his desk.

“No- no. kid, I’ll… I’ll help.”

Tony wiped the tears out of his eyes and sat on the stool next to Peter.

“That’s my seat,”

Peter said dryly as he swiped through screens with pictures of brains and drawn human bodies.

“Funny, because I’m pretty sure I bought it.”

“I wonder how long you think that’ll work.”

“I am sitting here still, aren’t I?”

“Keep talking and you won’t be,”

Peter threatened and Tony gasped.

“Words hurt, Kiddo.”

The teenager scoffed and wrote something down on lined paper.

“Okay, well, whaddya know about all this,”

Tony asked and Peter inhaled.

“The A.M. is that thing that gives you that jolt of energy. I have no idea what the SNS is.”

“SNS: Sympathetic Nervous System. The system that activates the ‘fight or flight’ mechanic instilled in humans, providing cortisol to the body to trigger movement,”

FRIDAY spoke and Tony shrugged.

“You could've just asked, Kid.”

“The fuck does that have to do with the adrenal medulla?”

“Well, I’m no Bruce Banner, but I’d guess the SNS would have to like, tell the medulla to pump the shit, right?”

Peter sat in silence before typing into his laptop.

“You just use me for my brain,” Tomy quipped.

“Absolutely.”

“You gonna buy some more ice cream for me, Small Fry?”

“I’m sure if you can buy a whole stool, you can buy a new tub of chocolate chip ice cream, Mr Stark.”

“Just because I can, doesn’t mean I wanna.”

Peter shrugged.

“I guess we’re out of chocolate chip ice cream then.”

“In the entire tower?”

“Yessir.”

“Excuse me?”

“Increased metabolism, what can I say?”

“You can start by apologizing and getting me more ice cream.”

Peter scribbled down another thing on the paper next to his laptop, closed two holoscreens, then turned to Tony with a puppy dog pout.

“I’m sincewwy, willy, absowutewy sowwy about eating your ice cweam. Pwease fowgive me and my sins.”

Tony contemplated as Peter sat there with his bottom lip pushed out.

“Fine, accepted. FRIDAY, tell Happy to buy more shit.”

“Got it, Boss.”

“What’s the point of telling me to get the ice cream if you’ll get someone else to do that anyway?”

“Shut up and do your thing, man.”

Peter smiled and returned to his project.

“Can I go now,”

Tony asked.

“I told you to get out five minutes ago.”

“That’s a mean way of thanking someone who just helped you.”

Peter sighed.

“Thank you, Mr Stark.”

Tony beamed and shot Peter finger guns.

“Never do that again.”

Parker commanded and Tony squeezed his shoulders then left the lab.

 

\-------------------------------------

 

A few weeks later, Tony was awoken and FRIDAY reminding him the time, date, and day of the week. He waved the AI off and he promptly fell back asleep… for five seconds and then remembered his damn hands. He hastily threw the covers off - shivered a little as he got ready - and made his way down to the workshop. 

“FRIDAY, how’s the research from last time?”

“Still crazy.”

Tony nodded and raised his mug to cheer his AI.

“Then we’re doing things right.”

Tony took a breath and began to find a new way to fix his problem. Going into this at the beginning was no help - the whole internet said just to lose weight to get his hands to be less fat.  _ Yeah, fucking thanks, Sherlock. _ But he eventually had to dig his own damn way through this, like every fucking thing else. He’d contemplated plastic surgery, but then wondered if that was a thing they did, then realized anyone does anything for a million dollars. However, he didn’t feel like throwing a million dollars into this just yet, so he tried to potion thing. We already know how that ended.

But Tony’s stomach suddenly growled like the Hulk was fucking a werewolf, and he bitched as he shuffled out to the kitchen.

As he walked in, a very solemn looking Peter Parker was slouched and staring off into space at the kitchen table, clutching a mug of coffee. Tony blinked, shrugged, then started cooking… a bowl of cereal. You’re crazy if you thought he was going to cook anything; that shit tastes awful. 

Tony took his seat diagonally across Peter and they sat in silence. Once in a while, Peter’s head fell forward and jerked back quickly. After this happened nine times, Tony cleared his throat and waved his hand in front of the kid. Tony could see the teenager reboot his mind before they were looking at each other.

“Hi,”

Tony said through a bright smile. Peter didn’t respond though.

“Peter?”

The kid sighed, then smiled the same small smile from weeks before. Tony huffed and scooted next to him, then bumped their elbows together.

“What the fuck, Tony,”

Peter snapped and backed away. Tony’s eyes narrowed as Peter’s widened.

“OhmygodI’msosorryMrStarkIdidn’tmeanit.”

Peter said quickly before dropping the mug and rushed out of the room, but not before running into three chairs, two counter edges, and the wall corner. Tony sighed, then rubbed the already forming tiredness out of his eyes and got up to follow the kid to the roof of the building.

When Tony slammed the door open, he saw wind blowing through Peter’s hair as he sat on the edge of the tower. The sky was a perfect blue and stratus clouds wisped up above. 

“Some spider sense if you run into six different things within a sixty second time frame,”

Tony whined and slowly got down next to Peter.

“Mr Stark, I appreciate it, but I really, really,  _ really _ need to be alone right now.”

“And if I leave you alone, then you jump off my building, we’re gonna have issues.”

Peter let out a deep breath and Tony pretended he didn’t notice the kid not denying the act. 

“I haven’t slept in six weeks,”

Peter said quietly. Tony looked at the kid with concern.

“What?”

“I get little naps, but I-I can’t- I can’t fucking sl-sleep.”

Peter’s jaw snapped shut when he finished and his eye twitched. Tony saw the kid’s fingers jumping in his lap.

“What about school? Superhero-ing?”

Peter nodded and Tony’s jaw dropped.

“You’ve been fucking around while not sleeping?”

Peter’s breath hitched and he nodded.

“Pl-please don’t yell. I- my hearing- it’s-it’s sens-sensitive.”

Tony forcefully calmed down then lowered his voice.

“What’s stopping you?”

Peter gagged before answering.

“Night-nightmares. They-they wouldn’t-t st-stop. I keep seeing you and May and Nat and Rhodey and Ned and Michelle all fucking dying and there’s nothing I can do but watch and I’m fuckin’ paralyzed every damn time and, and, and, and-”

Tony gently lowered a hand to the kid’s shoulder. He felt all the tension melt away immediately. 

“And then… Aunt May wanted me back in school so I wouldn’t-t… so I wouldn’t get all depressed or whatever. MJ and Ned gave up trying to help weeks ago. I’ve-I’ve been al-lone f-f-f-or-ever.”

Peter looked like a robot with water in its circuits. He kept making aborted movements in every which way and blinking rapidly as tears poured down his face. The kid wasn’t breathing properly; he was gonna hyperventilate.

“Hey hey hey,”

Tony took the boy’s quivering hands into his own.

“Can you tell me three things you can see?”

“I… I can s-see rooftops- twenty-three actually. Um, um, you. You h-have grey sweats on. I see my feet - we’re really high up right now - next to yours.”

Tony nodded.

“You did great! Now how about three things you feel?”

The two went on throughout the senses until Peter slightly calmed.

“Can I lift you to your room,”

Stark asked and Peter flung all his weight into the man while sobbing “yes” over and over.

Tony grunted as he stood, taking Peter with him in a bridal carry. Peter curled into Tony and tightened his grip around his neck, muttering incoherent garbage while Tony shushed him. 

The two traveled to Peter’s floor, but not before passing Wanda, who just raised a curious eyebrow and continued walking. Tony punched the code for Peter's room and saw the place a complete wreck. Tony grumbled -  _ someone’s gonna have to clean this up. Someone who isn’t me -  _ then lowered Peter to his bed.

“Pl-please don’t l-leave,”

Peter gripped at Tony’s shirt. Tony winked and pulled a chair next to the bed with a decently thick book. 

“ _ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince _ ? That sound good?”

Peter winced then nodded, so Tony began reading. 

_ This Harry Potter kid sounds pretty cranky,  _ Tony thought quietly as he read. Peter closed his eyes immediately and seemed to be asleep, so Tony sat and played on his phone until Peter stirred an hour later then continued reading.

 

\-------------------------------------

 

The bass shook the ground as Tony entered a crumbling building with bursting lights. A million bodies jumped in waves and confetti fluttered all around. A beach ball came hurtling toward Tony until a hand smacked it away. Tony felt flustered and hot against all the people in the large room as orange, blue, and yellow spotlights waved around spastically, giving Tony a huge migraine. Tony didn’t matter right now, however. 

FRIDAY had alerted Tony at 2:23 in the damn morning to tell him that Peter Benjamin Parker was fucking shit up at a club.

Speaking of the devil, Tony saw him with his legs wrapped around some guy’s waist as they bumped together enthusiastically. Tony sped up and pulled on Peter’s shirt collar.

“Hey man, I’m doing something here,”

Peter slurred with slanted eyes then returned to smacking lips with the kid holding his entire bodyweight. Tony persisted and pulled Peter back.

“Back off, dude!”

The guy standing against the wall took Peter’s head turn as an invite to engage with his neck and Peter’s eyes got fuzzy for a second, but the ferocity from before started burning through Tony.

“Listen… listen, you can get-get in line, Buddy. This guy is doing gr-great and, and, ugh-”

Peter arched his back and smiled.

“Peter! It’s time to go,”

Stark shouted and Peter lazily grinned. Tony sighed and pulled the two apart.

“What’s your deal,”

Parker barked at Tony and the other guy frowned before walking away. Peter watched him go then angrily narrowed his eyes on Tony.

“That was gonna be my third fuck tonight, man! What do you  _ want?” _

Tony grabbed his wrist and led them to his car. After fighting with Peter to get in the front seat, Tony slid into the driver’s seat and locked the doors. He started the engine and made his way home.

“Are you like, kidnapping me? Because we gon’ have problems if you are. I’m Spiderman! Did you even know that, Old Cockblocker?”

“You’re also high as fuck and not thinking at all. What’d you even take, Idiot? You’re higher than my fucking jet.”

Peter giggled and threw his head back, revealing an entirely purple and black neck and collarbone. Tony stared in horror before FRIDAY told him to watch the road. 

“Did you say  _ third _ fuck,”

Tony asked incredulously and Peter hummed with a smile. 

“You’re so dead.”

Peter laughed again, all bubbly without a care in the world. Tony took a rocky breath and looked to Peter; his dazed eyes and jerky neck movements made Tony want to vomit. He remembered those days. They never ended nicely.

Streetlights lead the way as Peter rambled on and on about nothing. Tony felt the heat behind his eyes every time Peter said something about “the amazing love of his life”. ( _ “You don’t even know! They said my eyes were pretty and that I was sexy. You know who’s said that to me before? Nobody. I promise. Maybe if you’d given them a chance, you’d love them as much as I do.”) _

“Why were you even there?”

But Peter didn’t respond.

“Destination reached,”

FRIDAY called half an hour later.

Tony sighed when he saw Peter had fallen asleep against the door, then groaned.

“Would it be immature to get Steve out here and deadlift this kid to his room?”

“Yep,”

FRIDAY answered and Tony scowled. He got out and walked over to the passenger’s side. Tony grouched as he fireman carried Peter to the door. He grouched even more as he fumbled with the passcode. The door eventually opened and his feet padded on the floor and Tony thanked everything that he worked out as he carried Peter to the elevator. He stood as the doors closed and looked down to the teenager in his arms. 

_ He looks so small. _

The elevator dinged as they reached Peter’s floor and Tony walked to tuck Peter into his bed. Tony sighed and ran a hand through his curly hair. Tiredness begged him to leave and go to sleep, but Peter needed him. 

_ I should go get him some water and aspirin, shouldn’t I? _

So Tony stood and quickly grabbed the items from the kitchen in a flash. When he returned, Peter was sat up in bed and chatting with FRIDAY about his day.

“FRIDAY, you know JARVIS?”

Tony stopped in his tracks.

“I have heard of him, yes.”

“What was he like?”

Tony continued walking and sat on the foot of the bed. He passed the pills to Peter.

“He was the sassiest mother hen I’ve ever made,”

Tony said and Peter raised an eyebrow.

“JARVIS always wanted me to sleep, eat, drink, anything but work four days in a row. He’d let me know when Pepper scheduled meetings for me. He really just wanted me to be healthy, I think,”

Tony felt the weight in his chest as he remembered his old AI.

“I named him after the closest person to family I’d ever had,”

Peter remained silent.

“we had this butler when I was a kid. His name was Jarvis, and he watched me grow up. He taught me emotions. Howard was never big on those, and Jarvis knew it was important for me to feel. He also said that Howard loved me, just in a confusing way. I never believed him though.”

Peter looked down and opened his mouth to speak.

“He’s part of Vision, isn’t he?”

“Yeah.

“So, shouldn’t his personality be wired into Vision?”

Tony smiled weakly.

“Not quite. This other robot I made was kinda a mass murderer, and he started making Viz… it’s a very long story. But no.”

Peter sighed and laid back down.

“Can you tell me more about him?”

Tony huffed a laugh.

“Sure, Kid.”

 

\-------------------------------------

 

“Didn’t you already go to homecoming?”

Tony asked as he tried knotting Peter’s tie for the third time. ( _ Mr Stark, you’re dumb baby hands are taking too long. Let me do it! _ ) Peter huffed in annoyance.

“Yeah, for five seconds. Then my date’s dad came to kill me. Thanks for the help, by the way.”

Tony pinched Peter’s arm through the sleeve of the suit and the teenager yelped.

“Oh, so now that I’m right I get punished. Great.”

“Keep talking Kid.”

Peter glared, but kept his mouth shut until they purchased the suit from the store. ( _ no, Mr Stark, let’s just go to Kohl’s or something. We don’t need to get it tailored from some fancy white guy store. _ )

“Do you even have a date to the prom?”

“Actually, yes.”

Tony hummed a questioning noise as he waved Happy to drive them home.

“Yeah, MJ asked me out to it weeks ago. She was hesitant at first, because she refused to bend and contort herself to society’s standards for women, but then I said we could wear matching suits and she agreed to it.”

_ What the fuck? _

Peter continued to go on and on about MJ and Tony saw the way his eyes lit up just talking about her. Tony recognized the feeling whenever he looked to Pepper when they were engaged. They left on good terms, but the war just ruined them. But it’s okay. He has Peter now.

“...she showed me this new BuzzFeed article on Spiderman and they actually like him! People hate vigilantes! This never happens! And they talked about how I showed up to the pride parade wearing my flags! They said they were proud of me! Just because I’m a bi trans dude! Isn’t that crazy?”

Tony nodded and smiled gently. 

( _ Mr Stark… you should know that I like, have boyfriends and girlfriends. And it… um, I’m trans… fem to masc… is that okay? _ )

( _ Mr Stark, you really don’t have to pay for my transition. May and I have it all planned it out. _ )

“But anyway, MJ was showing me the article saying how BuzzFeed used my pride as a way to promote their website and capitalize on it, but I don’t know. I mean, I think it’s great they covered my story. They reached out to do an interview but I said I couldn’t because, secret identity and all.”

“Yeah, I thought BuzzFeed was all inclusive and stuff,”

Tony asked and Peter shrugged.

“The entire internet is apparently divided on the topic.”

“It’s a yes or no question.”

“Yeah, well, the morals and motives behind their support is questionable. They’re this huge company, so when they came out as LGBT allies, some people were, ‘yaasss’ and others were all, ‘you’re tryna make money off my identity!’ but I haven’t seen anything of that sort, but who knows…”

( _ Mr Stark! Bisexual, demisexual, and pansexual are all different things! You should’ve just asked. _ )

Tony was so scared he’d get it all wrong and just ruin the kid’s self esteem. The kid came out to him and seemed so legitimately scared he’d be kicked out. It tore Tony to pieces and he hugged Peter tighter than ever before. Peter had tears pouring out his eyes and he shook and trembled in Tony’s arms. He later talked about how people used to throw cans at him in the streets before he had his binder. Tony had promptly bought three binders and instructed Peter to never go Spidermanning with them on and that they’d find a safe solution. A month later they changed his name, driver’s license, then went straight to T and surgery. Peter cried and cried while he sat on the couch watching Netflix and thanked Tony over and over day and night. 

“So when is the prom?”

“I think they said April twentieth.”

“...Peter,”

“Yes?”

“That’s next weekend.”

“Yes, and?”

Peter chewed on his lower lip anxiously as Tony sighed and buried his face in hands.

“You couldn’t’ve given a little longer of a notice?”

“Nope.”

“Yeah, you could’ve. But you didn’t because you’re ridiculously in love with her, and you didn’t want me saying no.”

Peter blushed bright red.

“N-no I’m not.”

“Then call it off.”

“It’s prom!”

Tony nodded with excessive force and Peter smacked him.

“It’s true!”

“I know.”

“So why’re you making that face! Stop it!”

Tony snickered as Peter yelled at Happy to drop him off at the nearest gas station.

“I’ll just hitchhike to a homeless shelter.”

Happy studiously ignored Peter’s cries by rolling up the division window, which just made Tony cackle. Peter huffed and slumped back into his seat.

“Kid, any homeless shelter would be burdened with handling you.”

“Fuck off, Stark.”

“You kiss your aunt with that mouth?”

Peter grumbled and stared out the window of the limousine. Yeah, at least Tony had Peter.

  
\-------------------------------------

 

“Mr Stark?”

Peter peeked into the lab to find it completely vacant.

_ That’s unusual. _

Peter thought to himself. He went back to the communal floor to find Shuri sitting on the ginormous couch in front of the plasma TV.

“Shuri, when did you get here?”

“Two minutes ago.”

“Impossible. I just left this place empty only ninety seconds ago.”

“Uh yeah, I was invisible. Duh.”

Peter stood in the kitchen staring at his friend.

“I doubt it.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“Not a bit,”

Peter said and Shuri scoffed. She pressed on a clear bead in her hair and, true to her word, disappeared into thin air. Peter scrunched his nose.

“Show off.”

“You didn’t believe me. How am I supposed to let that go?”

The air around the couch asked.

“Have you seen Tony,”

Peter asked and silence resounded.

“Oh wait, you’re people’s eyes haven’t been modified to see me yet-”

“Shuri, now you’re just bullshitting me.”

“-no, I haven’t seen Tony.”

Peter sighed and scratched his chin, then walked into the elevator. He stopped at every floor from the bottom to top, getting off at each one to search for Tony.

_ Why are there forty one fucking floors in this building? _

Peter didn’t find Tony anywhere so he asked FRIDAY to call Pepper.

“Virginia Potts speaking, do you have a phone appointment for me or are you Tony being an ass again?”

“Sort of the second option-”

“Tony, I told you that you need to wait your turn like everybody else-”

“No, Pepper, it’s Peter.”

“-you need to stop acting like a child- oh, hey. What’s up?”

“I was wondering if Tony had any meetings. He’s not in the tower.”

“Nope, his schedule is clean. Listen, Peter, I have a million people needing to talk to me, and, fortunately, I’m not Tony’s babysitter anymore-”

“That’s not what I meant by that, Pepper, I’m sorry-”

“-so I wish you luck on your quest, but I really must go.”

“Call ended,”

FRIDAY said and Peter sighed.

**She is a busy woman, Peter.**

Shuri texted him

**Fuck you.**

**That’s not how you speak to princesses, Peter.**

Peter smiled and made his way to the basement, AKA his last chance at finding Tony. Lo and behold, through the glass, Tony was sitting on the floor in a ball watching TV with various food wrappers surrounding him. Peter typed in his personal code and was let in.

“Did you know there are forty fucking one floors here,”

He asked aloud.

Peter was met with silence and blinked in confusion. The lab was never quiet?

“Mr Stark?”

Tony grumbled and pulled his black blanket over his head. Peter walked over to sit then pulled it back down and paused the show.

“I was watching that, you prick,”

Tony yelled and Peter flinched at the sight. Tony’s face was all sunken, and wet tracks glimmered in the TV’s light. His frown was set in stone and small circles darkened under his eyes. He reminded Peter of Mr Electric from _ Lava Girl and SharkBoy. _

“What’s wrong, Tony?”

Tony’s face softened and he collapsed in Peter’s lap. Peter went with it and began running his hand through Tony’s hair. It was all greasy, but Peter didn’t seem to care.

“What’s up, Mr Stark?”

The two sat in quiet, and it almost seemed like time paused. But Peter feels that a lot; the spidey sense just makes time go by slower, it seems. 

Tony taking a small, breakable breath brought Peter back out of his thoughts and to the grown man he was currently being inhabited by.

“I miss her.”

“Who...oh.”

Tony scoffed.

“Yeah, ‘oh’.”

“I was just on the phone with her. She seems great.”

Tony sighed.

“She doesn’t miss me, does she?”

Peter winced.

“I don’t think so, Mr Stark.”

Peter felt Tony shake under him.

“But hey, you wouldn’t want her to feel like this, would you?”

He was greeted with quiet, so he continued.

“She’s not doing well in spite of you, Tony… time just moves on. You chose to be upset and she chose to move forward. I honestly think that both are acceptable options, but Tony, you can’t expect her to be sad for all of eternity. You can’t expect that of yourself, either. It’s unfair to you and everyone near you. You don’t have to be over her, but you do need to continue with the people around you. I know you’ve lost important people and things, but that just makes you a dribble castle, remember?”

Tony gave a small chuckle and Peter took it as an accomplishment.

“You help me like, literally every second of everyday. I think it’s about time you start taking care of yourself.”

Tony shrugged and Peter laughed.

“Don’t shrug. You know I’m right!”

Tony shrugged again, making Peter snicker. 

Peter sighed in annoyance then looked around the room and saw-

“You ate an entire bucket of ice cream!”

Tony barked a laugh and sat back up.

“Increased depression, what can I say?”

He answered and Peter smiled.

“You can start by cleaning up down here and joining me in a movie marathon.”

“I’m sure if you can sit on the couch for all of winter break alone, you can binge Netflix yourself.”

“Keep talking, Stark, see where it gets you.”

Tony smiled and stood up then waved to Dum-E.

“You got this mess?”

Dum-E beeped happily. Tony looked back to Peter, who stared right back. Before Peter could suggest it, Tony took off towards the exit. Peter giggled and ran to the elevator. Of course Peter won, but once Tony joined him and caught his breath, he smiled.

“How’d you get so smart?”

Peter beamed.

“I learned from the best.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Uh. Y’all are welcome because this was almost Endgame compliant. I was gonna have a funeral scene and everything. It was gonna be so sad. But I saved you. (Nah, I just refuse to acknowledge Endgame)


End file.
